Da Toulouse-Lautrec a Ehrenberger

Museo d’Arte MAGI'900

The effervescent and fascinating atmosphere of the Belle Époque is living again at Museo MAGI’900 in Pieve di Cento from November 5th in an installation focusing on the subtle theme of female seduction, one of the most popular themes in the visual arts in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Beautiful and intriguing, objects of desire but also highly aware and well on their way to emancipation, women appeared in art, decoration, publishing, fashion and advertising in their thousands, and their lineaments, suspended between reality and imagination, are still recognisable as icons of an unrivalled style.Museo MAGI’900 opens a new section in which original works - many of which are included in its permanent collection, appear alongside magazines, posters, documents, prints and objects to pay homage to the significance of the female figure in the aesthetics and society of those magical decades of the turn of the century.

Omaggio alla femminilità nella Belle Époque. Da Toulouse-Lautrec a Ehrenberger (A homage to woman in the Belle Époque. From Toulouse-Lautrec to Ehrenberger) features an international scene that leaves behind the legendary France of the Moulin Rouge for Italy, passing through Austria, Germany, Belgium and the United States. Many of the best-known names in art and illustration appear alongside those of lesser-known artists whose work is equally relevant for representation of this unmistakeable style. From the beautiful women portraits by Giovanni Boldini (Ferrara,1842 – Paris,1931) and the graphic works by his friend Paul César Helleu (Vannes, 1859 - Paris,1923), to the most important French magazines such as Le Sourire, Gil Blass, Le Frou Frou, L’Assiette au Beurre, L’Eclipse, La Lune Rousse, Fantasio, Le Humoristes, La Vie Parisienne, and a very rare copy of Le Riredated 1895-96, containing some of the finest Toulouse-Lautrec’s lithographies (Albi, 1864 - Saint-André-du-Bois,1901). The advertising posters by Marcello Dudovich (Trieste, 1878 – Milan, 1962) standing out for their modernity and intensity; the chromolithograph by Vittorio Corcos (Livorno, 1859 – Florence, 1933); the touch of humour in the female image by Aroldo Bonzagni (Cento, 1887 – Milan, 1918); the most popular illustrated magazines like Novissima, Poesia, Fantasio, Italia ride, L’Asino, Il Mulo, La scena illustrata, La Grande Illustrazione, Il Mondo Umoristico, Sigaretta, Satana Beffa, Il Giornalino della Domenica, La Lettura, Ars et Labor, and Il Secolo XX; two artists born in Pieve di Cento, the painter Remo Fabbri (1890 – 1977) and the sculptor Antonio Alberghini (1888- 1979); the provocative works of Francesco Cangiullo (Naples, 1888 – Livorno, 1977) and Alberto Martini (Oderzo, 1876 – Milan, 1954) as well as the transgressive engravings of the Belgian artist Felicien Rops (Namur, 1833 – Essonnes, 1898), the books by Eduard Fuchs (Göppingen, 1870 – Paris, 1940), and the famous albums by Charles Dana Gibson (Roxbury, 1867 – New York, 1944).In the section on Austria and Germany on show the famous cover of Ver Sacrum magazine created by Gustav Klimt (Vienna, 1862 – Neubau, 1918) in March 1898, as well as unique works by Ferdinand Reznicek (Vienna, 1868 – Munich, 1909) such as the 1907 Wiener Tanz Album, and some of the most beautiful German magazines, Jugend, Simplicissimus, Lustige Blätter. It is just to illustrate the lifestyle magazine Lustige Blätter that many of about forty original temperas by Lutz Ehrenberger (Sohn eines Weinbauern, Graz,1878 – Saalfelden, 1950) - recently acquired by MAGI’900, were produced. Starting with this exhibition, the museum will dedicate a process of study and appreciation aimed at restoring the success the Austrian artist enjoyed in his lifetime.